The goals of the MBRS-RISE program at Fast Central University (ECU) are to encourage and motivate the high number of minority students from Oklahoma to complete a B.S. degree in Biology/Chemistry/Environmental Health Science, continue a graduate degree in the biomedical sciences, and pursue a career in biomedical research. The specific aims of the ECU program include recruiting minority students from ECU finishing their sophomore year and students finishing 2-year colleges in the east central region of Oklahoma. The NIH-Bridges to the Baccalaureate program at ECU (renewed until 2001) has developed a consortium with Murray State College, Seminole State College, and Eastern Oklahoma State College, two-year state supported institutions. The students involved in the NIH-Bridges program will be a primary target for recruitment and will transition into the MBRS- RISE program at ECU. The students will attend colloquia at the ECU campus and visit research laboratories in Oklahoma. The speakers will be from various areas of the biomedical field and speak on their own research and career opportunities. Those students who are accepted into the MBRS-RISE at ECU will attend a summa workshop in which they will learn research techniques applicable to the biomedical field. The following Fall semester the students will attend a 4-year university and work part-time in the laboratory of a professor involved in the biomedical field. The students will also attend scientific meetings and visit other research laboratories. In the summer, each student will conduct an internship at a major research laboratory in the United States. At the end of the summer, each student will present their research project in a poster session at ECU and possibly, at other scientific meetings. The cycle would begin again each year with a new group of students. The MBRS-RISE at ECU will also assist in faculty development at ECU and the cooperating 2-year institutions by providing funding for faculty to conduct research during the school year and in the summer break, encourage faculty to attend scientific meetings, and seek to create avenues to enhance research opportunities for themselves and their students. At least 15 faculty members and 48 students from the cooperating institutions will participate in this program over a 4-year period.